Rail joint



y 1,626 349 Apnl 26 1927' D. B. MolssELLE RAL JOINT f Filed NOV. 4, 1925 Patented Apr. r26, 1927 DAVID n. MoIssELLE, or rnILAnELrnIA, PENNSYLVANIA RAIL JOINT.

Application led November 4, 1926. Serial No. 146,119.

My invention relates to welded rail joints.

For some decades, engineers have sought to overcome the disadvantages and shortcomings ofthe old bolted fish-plate joint. These old joints are not without merit, 1n that they allowythe rails to expand and contract; but they cannot be maintained tight. The result is that the rails pound the head at the receivingfend; and the flanges ofthe wheels cause the rail web to crack through the bolt'holes and ultimately break, thereby causing serious trouble. Such joints must be carefully and constantly inspected; and frequent renewals, both of joints and of rails, are required. f

@ther joints, including welded, poured and cast joints, have been devised which do not loosen easily and have qualities of strength and rigidity; but the advantages that they secure are obtained at the sacrifice of other 'equally necessary or desirable qualities and involve the creation of new causes of trouble;

l a'nd, moreover, they do not eliminate certain'y undesirable features of the bolted joint.

Spread rails, `cupping of the rails at the joint, and ncracking of the web near the head (and indeed actual breakage of the rail if the joints a're too heavy for'the rails) are among the outstanding weaknesses of socalled improved joints.

The principal conditions that operate to produce these well known objectionable and dangerous conditions are sun, heat andfrost,

with resultant expansion and contraction that should be fully provided for; side pounding of the Iwheel flange against the rail head; solidity of the road bed; and in the case of urban street railways, other vehicular traiiic.

tion of `the invention, proximate ends of two The object of my invention is to provide a rail joint that will secure all the advantages 'of the old joints and that will provide conditions that are necessary to overcome all their major defects.

Fig. 3 is a crossesection on the line 3-l-3, of

For the purpose of illustratlng an applicaside-bearing girder rails a are shown. It

will be understood, however, that the inven tion 1s not hmited in its application to a rail of any particular cross-section, it being applicable to rails of the T type, as well as railsof other contours.

Extending longitudinally of, andoverlapL f ping, the ra'ils on each side thereof, and welded thereto, are a plurality of bars or rods b, @,d and ge, whichmay'be of any desired cross-section but which are preferably more or less nearly circular in cross-section.

The bars, between their ends, and preferably midway between their ends, are prorvided with loop, yoke or offset sect-ions f,

preferably. formed by U-shaped bends in, and integral with, the bars.

The bars may orlinay not be connected at their ends by integral cross connections; but it is `preferred to so connect them, preferably y nie-ans of integral end"`c1'oss bars g. These connections afford no great advantage in the operation ofthe joint; but the application of the joint to the rail-is thereby facilitated, and (what lis of more importance) the proper positioning of each'bar relative to the rails and to the other bars is thereby insured.

While the number of bars is' permissibly Variable, I prefer to apply four bars on each side, one of them, d, extending along the web midway, or nearly midway bet-Ween the head and foot of each rail; another, e, along the web a short distance below the head; a'notherfc, along the crotch between the foot and web; and another b, along the rail foot or base not far distant from its edge.- vThe bars are Welded to the rail, as indicated by thefwelds h.'

It is perhaps not essential,'but it is of great importance, in order to secure the. full advantages of my invention, to so apply the bars' that the offsets of the several bars on each side shall extendat different angles to each other and to the ra'il. Thus, the two upper olisets should preferably extend at about right angles to-the web, while the two lower offsets should extend obliquely to the web and to the other two loops.

The main highly important.characteristics i of the new joint are strength and flexibility.

4These factors are secured without sacrifice of any other desirable factor. On the other hand, other advantages are secured which have never heretofore been obtained.

adapted to meet other important require-V ments. ABy providing a series of spaced .apart bars having mediate loops or other equivalent oifsets'spanning the gap between the rails, these other factors are completely provided for. The bends, materially aided by the directions in which the bends respeclively extend, contribute to making the joint rigid under conditions where rigidity is desirable, since the bends on one side of the rails workagainst those on the other side. XVhen, however, the rails expand or"con tract with temperature changes, the bends open or close to permit such expansion; the bends, in fact, functioning as semi-rigid springs. The principal advantages of the invention may be enumerated as follows;

vStrength that insures rigidity under all conditions where rigidity is desired, without weakening the rail joint.

Ample provision for expansionand contraction without sacrifice of strength.

Prevention of spread rails due to lack of capacity'to freely expand and contract in a straight longitudinal direction.

Elimination of pounding on the head of the rail, due to the fact that the joint cannot loosen. i,

Elimination of cracking under the head yof the rail caused by the side poundingof the head of the rail, the bends acting as springs to which are transmitted,.and which absorb, the force of the blows.

Avoidance of subsequent weakening of the rail in that the joint guards againstv crackving along the line of the junction of head and web and avoids conditions that tend to produce crystallization of the metal.

Durability, in that the joint is capable of ontlasting the life of the rails.

Saving in expense of supervision and replacement.

It is important, in welding the bars to the rails, to first weld the bars that engage the bases of the rails so that, before the other bars are applied to the web, the latter, as well as the head of the rail, willhave been already conductively heated. It is desirable to weld the bars in the order b, c, d and e.

It will be understood that the term bars in the claims is used in a broad sense and is not intended to exclude longitudinally extending members of any contour which may be formed by casting integrally a complete structure adapted for application to one side of the rails.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and Awelded to the rails and provided between their ends with fiexible sections, said joint engaging boththe web and base portions of the rai 2. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and welded to the rails along opposite sides of the rail web and along the rail base on opposite sides of the web and having between their ends laterally extending flexible offset sections.

8. In a rail joint the combination with the rails, of. a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and secured to the rails and overlapping the joint and welded to the rails along the side 'of the rail web and the upper face of the rail foot, the bars having between their ends 'laterally offset flexible sections a plurality of which extend at respectively different angles.

4. In a rail joint, the combination with y the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and welded to the rails and overlapping the joint, the bars having between their ends laterally oset flexible sections, and means uniting the bars vin an integral structure..

5. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of four bars extending longitudinally of the rails and spaced apart and overlapping the joint, each bar having a U-bend spanning the joint, two of the bars extending along and welded to the web, a third extending along and secured to the rail at approximately the crotch formed at the junction of web and foot, and the fourth extending along and secured to the foot relatively close to its .outer edge.

6. In -a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and welded to the rails and overlapping the joint and havf" ing between their ends offsets a. plurality Jof which extend in different convergent directions, said offsets spanning the space b etween the ends of the rails.

7. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars yextending longitudinally of and welded toI the rails and overlapping the jointand having offsets which span the space between the ends of the railsand one or more of which extend laterallyl in a substantially horizontal direction while one or more of which extend obliquely upward.

8. In a rail joint, the combination withy the rails, of a plurality of spaced apart bars extending longitudinally of and secured'to the rails andjoverlapping thejoint and welded .respectively to the webs and feet of the rails, the bars having U-bends overlapping the joints, the U-bends of one or more of the upper bars and the U-bends of one or more ofthe lower bars extending away from the rails indifferent and convergent directions.

9. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of four bars extending longitudinally of and welded to the rails and spaced apart and overlapping the joint, each bar having a U-bend spanning the joint, two of the bars extending along and secured to the web, a third extending along and secured to the rail at approximately the crotch formed at the junction of web and foot, and the fourth extending along and secured to the foot relatively close to its outer edge, the U-bends of the first two bars extending at approximately right angles to 'the web and the U-bends of the other two bars extending obliquely upward.

10.` A railejoint comprising a plurality Aof spaced apart bars and providedA between their ends with flexible lateral offsets and means connecting the corresponding ends of the bars and providing an integral structure.

11.1A rail joint which invend elevation has on opposite sides of the hereinafter specified bends Aan L-shaped `contour and which comprises substantially parallel bars spaced apart, one of the bars being at the angle of the L, one of them relatively near the end of the lower arm of' the L and the othe-rs along the longer arm of the L, all of the bars having U-bends between their ends, the bends of the rst two bars extending obliquely to both arms of the L and the bends of the other bars extending obli uely relativek to the bends of the first two ars.

12. Ina rail joint, the combination with the rails of a plurality of bars extending longitudlnally of and welded to the rails and having Sections overlapping the joint and adapted to fiex to allow expansion of the rails, said bars being substantially round in cross-section and spaced apart.

13. A rail joint comprising a plurality of bars whose opposite end portions extend substantially parallel one to another and provided midway between their end portions with lateral flexible offsets, said bars being so relatively positioned and so spaced apart as to adapt them to be applied to aajoining rails so as to extend longitudinally thereof with the flexible offsets spanning the joint and to be welded to both the rail web and the rail base.

14. A. rail joint comprising a plurality of bars extending in the same general direction and spaced apart and provided between their ends with laterally ofi'set flexible sections, and means uniting the bars in an integral structure, the bars being so relatively positioned as to adapt the joint to be applied to adjacent rails, span the joint be.- tween them and be welded thereto.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this 3rd day of November, 1926. v

\ DAVID B. MoissELLE. 

